Report: Josh Cribbs healthy, several teams interested

Posted by Josh Alper on May 8, 2013, 11:18 AM EDT

AP

It’s been almost two months since Josh Cribbs came close to signing with the Cardinals before things were put on hold while Cribbs continued his recovery from surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee.

It appears that the time has come to get the process going again. Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that Cribbs is healthy and that several teams are interested in talking to him about signing up for the 2013 season.

The Cardinals may not be one of those teams. They drafted Tyrann Mathieu and said that part of the plan was to use him as a returner. After Mathieu was drafted last month, Darren Urban of the Cardinals web site reported that General Manager Steve Keim didn’t sound optimistic about a deal happening with Cribbs. Cabot also reports that a return to the Browns doesn’t appear to be in the cards.

The Patriots were another team that was reportedly interested in Cribbs early in free agency, but Leon Washington’s arrival likely took care of their desire to boost their return game. We’ll likely find out more about which teams actually are thinking about striking a deal with Cribbs in near future and it would be a bit of a surprise if he didn’t land somewhere before mandatory minicamps next month.

Dude was a Steeler-killer for the stretch of a few seasons (who can forget him smoking Farrior with the Wildcat an entire game), but his lack of skills as a receiver relegated him to nothing more than a gadget player. Randle El-ish.

Agreed. Signed in so I could say this–or actually, that wouldn’t be surprised if Tampa isn’t one of the teams that looks at him. And they strongly should. With Demps wanting to do track professionally, he wouldn’t even be ready until October or so? What about the first quarter and a half of the season? Cribbs could provide some excitement to the return game and in this game, having great field position is always a plus. It puts less pressure on the offense and if they don’t score, it helps pin the opponent deep–which in turn, helps the defense. I wouldn’t mind this move at all. Plus, he might just take one or two punts and/or kicks back to the house and that always helps too! Assuming, he stays healthy of course and with a team like Tampa–I don’t think he would need to do more than be a return guy.

It is a damned shame they don’t want him back in Cleveland. They think because Benjamin scored a TD on a trick play last year that he is good enough to pass the torch to? I don’t think so. I think that we will see a significant drop off from his 12.0 yds per punt return and 27.4 per kick return. Why has he not scored on a kick return for the past 3 years? Because the bottom of the roster which the team failed to upgrade again this year has been horrible with as many as 10 long returns called back last years alone thanks to players like Ray Ventrone who did not seem willing or capable of blocking.

i wish Dallas would look at him. in addition to finally having a special teams ace, we’d have a proven 3rd WR. Unfortunately, the depth chart is already crowded with “hopefuls” like Cole,Beasely, and Harris. Man, its so awesome that our GM passed on letting guys like Amendola make the final roster.

if he wants a ring he can sign a one year vet minimum contract and back up Harvin on returns here in Seattle.

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I was thinking Seattle would be good too, but no way he’d be behind Harvin on the depth chart for returns. Cribbs is a top 5 returner all time, and he hasn’t aged so much that he can’t do that anymore. Besides, Harvin is made of glass, why risk him getting injured and not being able to play receiver?

i wish Dallas would look at him. in addition to finally having a special teams ace, we’d have a proven 3rd WR. Unfortunately, the depth chart is already crowded with “hopefuls” like Cole,Beasely, and Harris. Man, its so awesome that our GM passed on letting guys like Amendola make the final roster.

Check his stats before you think he’s a viable receiving option. If he can’t make it as a receiver with the Browns weak receiving corp he couldn’t make another roster as a WR. His return skills are, if not the best, then one of the best, but even those skills may be diminished because of the torn meniscus. We shall see.

OK Joe and Mike,
Offer him a reasonable contract for a talented returner and special teams guy, If he turns it down the fans will forgive you, Do nothing like with Dawson and the mistrust will continue…..

I’d love to see Cribbs in a burgundy & gold uniform doing both special teams and offense. The possibilities of Cribbs and RG3 together on offense are just too rich to ignore. He’s lost a step but he’s also matured and learned when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em.
If it happens I’d be heading down to FedEx a couple times a year to sing HTTR and watch Cribbs & RG3 put on a show